Good Afternoon everybody!  Today we are going to “sweat the small stuff” and pay “Attention to Detail.”  This episode takes me back to my days in the military – specifically room inspection. Any military service branch – from Coast Guard to Army participates in inspections; and one of the first drills you have to pass is room inspection. During a room inspection, the inspector is typically looking in areas that are non-descript or hidden – tops of ledges, under beds, behind doors, etc. Now that I am a veteran (12 years removed from service) I have enlisted the help of Casabella to chase down several inspection ready detail jobs in my house. These are classic “hidden” areas that you forget about cleaning unless you have the right tools reach difficult places. We are talking about:

a. Dryer vent chamber
b. Under the fridge in the kitchen
c. On top of the fridge in the kitchen
d. Doorway welcome mats
e. Wall ornaments

Let’s start in the laundry room and take a peek in our dryer vent compartment. But before we do, I want to familiarize you with the bendable Vent Brush. This pliable wand extends 2+ feet to reach places that you struggle to see. A perfect example of such a place is your dryer lint trap. As you lean inside your dryer door, body contorted, empty your lint compartment screen and take a look down the hole – for me I uncovered a deep dark chasm filled with lint! In one hand I use a flashlight to pin-point my target area and in my other hand I have Casabella’s vent brush. As I maneuver the tip of the brush thru the compartment the gentle friction of the wand fibers grabs ahold of the dust, lint, and filth in the dryer chute. I pull out a gold-mine of dust bunnies. A quick vacuum around the edges and job complete – I expect my next round of dryer cycles to be more efficient now that I have cleared the exhaust tunnel.

Let’s now shift from hot to cold; dryer to fridge. With your vent brush still by your side, get on all fours and extend the brush underneath your refrigerator. You will be amazed at what you find under there!! In the MenClean household – our vent brush grabbed a toy race car, pencil, dried blueberries, bottle cap and cracker crumbs. To get around the fridge wheels, I bent my wand to a 90° angle – the advantage of the wand is that it is firm enough to capture and cling debris but gentle enough not to scratch your floors as you drag it from side to side.

 

 

Another home detail area you have probably forgotten about is the top of the fridge. Sure you clean in the fridge, but for most of us under 6 feet tall, the top area is readily missed because we would need a step stool to see and clean it. For this detailing moment, I have gone with the Microfiber Chenille Dust Mitt. The ceiling of my fridge is littered with dust, crumbs and lint. The microfibers of the dusting mitt is just the right type of cloth to draw in the grime. I use a light spray of water in conjunction with the mitt so I can capture both large and small particles with one glide across. The attraction of the mitt is you can use your fingers inside the glove to penetrate little corners or areas that would normally be difficult with a paper towel or rag alone.

 

 

With the mitt still on, there was another detail job in our dining room that I consistently forget about – the dish ornaments on our wall. I needed an ever so delicate microfiber to clean these on the wall, but moreover, it was important that I keep some level of dexterity in my motion as I could not afford to tip these relics off the hinges!! Our chenille mitt is perfectly suited for this job – the cleaning glove gave me the control I was looking for and the microfibers gave me the resilience I needed to attract dust.

 

Well, an hour has gone by between all of these jobs and I am ready to clean up my mess from detailing. Yes – for all of you experienced cleaners, you know as you dust, wipe, and clean – typically there is a mess on your carpets and floor to pick up afterward. At this point in my day, I am tired and do not feel like breaking out the vacuum and listening to several decibels of noise. Instead, I grab the All Surface Sweeper – this tool gives me the flexibility to move from room to room, from carpet to carpet, from carpet to hardwood all with one push of the arm. The mechanism inside is purely mechanical – no power required except human motion. On a Sunday afternoon, I enjoy tranquil cleaning time and this the tool is just that – quite an operation – no batteries or electricity required. I swoosh over the door mat near our refrigerator to pick up any leftover debris from cleaning the ice-chest.

Once the hardwoods and rugs have been cleaned, to finish the job I empty the residue container in the carpet sweeper over the trash can – you will be amazed at what this contraption can cling onto!!

 

 

To wrap up – I call the kids and wife in to inspect my work – Checklist in hand - look at the dryer compartment, top/bottom of the fridge, wall ornaments and floor carpets – do I get a passing mark??

 

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